


tracks in the dust

by depugnare



Series: Never Gonna Be a Whole Fic [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, First Meetings, Gen, Great Depression, M/M, Pre-War, indiana bucky, kind of, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7534981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/depugnare/pseuds/depugnare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>bucky barnes was a windswept 13 year old from drought stricken Indiana when he met a blood stained 12 year old steve rogers from a rickety Brooklyn tenement </p><p>the rest is history</p>
            </blockquote>





	tracks in the dust

not that I don’t love steve n bucky growing up from a young age together

I also like dust streaked 13 year old James Buchanan Barnes moving from drought stricken Indiana in 1930 to live with his maternal grandparents in New York, towing three equally windswept little sisters along with him, parentless until George and Winifred can sell the Barnes farm and join them in Brooklyn

meeting 12 year old Steven Grant Rogers, a skinny boy with a big heart and a top lip stained pink from a nosebleed, no father and a mother that works long hours, gets home late, and wakes up early, clothes threadbare but diligently held together by careful hands, which seems to describe their wearer as well

meeting in school one day when a boy decides to take Rebecca Barnes’ lunch sack, sewn special by her mama just before she sent them off at the train depot, and throw it in the dirt because she called him a rude bully for calling Steve ugly and scrawny, and what happens next is loud and ugly

which is how Bucky finds all three of his sisters hollering and crying, the two youngest clinging to a blonde boy’s belt while Rebecca has his arm slung over her shoulder and a handkerchief pressed against his nose, which is still bleeding profusely and is accompanied by a split lip, a black eye, and a long scrape across his collarbone, all of which are hard to see as the boy’s chin is tucked against his chest as he struggles to stem the flow of blood from his nose

and while Rebecca is tearfully relaying the story to him and waving her mud-stained lunch bag in his face, Bucky holds out his hand and grimly thanks the boy (who doesn’t look much older than nine) for taking care of his baby sisters (a most serious duty for a thirteen year old you know), and the boy finally looks up and beams at him, bright blue eyes crinkling as he tells Bucky he hardly had to do anything, what with how Rebecca was tongue lashing the other boy

and Bucky’s looking at this boy who’s got an arm around each of his two youngest sisters - telling them how he’s just “too shabby to stand next to such lovely ladies! and so brave! coming to rescue their sister and him with teachers in tow”- Rebecca hugging him around his neck and pulling him over to Bucky and begging to let him come home with them

and how can he resist? when a strong, pale hand is put in his for a shake, proudly followed by a “I’m Steve Rogers, from Miss Lahey’s sixth grade class!” Bucky smiles back and replies with “James Buchanan Barnes, but you can call me Bucky. Nice to meet ya!”

He doesn’t let go of Steve’s hand for a long moment, before the girls start pulling at both of them, tugging them in the directions of their grandparents’ house, and isn’t that how the rest of their life turns out: hands linked running with a group of people following after, never quite capable of keeping up with two boys that fell through time and left everyone else behind


End file.
